A variety of devices and systems have heretofore been used or proposed for use for supporting articles on a cushion of fluid, such as air, facilitating transport and conveyance of the articles due to the extremely low frictional characteristics of such fluid cushion. A recent technological breakthrough in fluid bearing devices of the foregoing type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,904,255, which is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. The apparatus of the present invention constitutes still a further improvement over the device disclosed in the aforementioned United States patent, providing an apparatus which is particularly adapted, but not necessarily restricted, to the conveyance and processing of containers of the general type which are in widespread use for packaging various foodstuffs, including beverages or the like, between the initial forming operation and the final filling and sealing operation.
Containers employed in the packaging of foodstuffs conventionally are comprised of a variety of materials providing for a thin-walled resilient construction, such as, for example, various plastic materials, tin-plated steel, plastic-lined steel, aluminum and the like. Containers comprised of aluminum, for example, are produced by the deep-drawing, or a draw and re-draw, or a draw and ironing, of an aluminum blank employing modern automatic machines which are capable of production rates presently as high as about 200 container bodies per minute. The resultant container bodies, after the forming operation, are trimmed along their open upper edge and thereafter are subjected to various cleaning and coating operations before entering the filling operation.
Suitable apparatuses and methods for effecting a high-speed treatment of the surfaces of such container bodies are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,704,685 and 3,748,177, which are owned by the same assignee as the present invention. In accordance with the teachings of the aforementioned United States patents, longitudinally extending guide rods are provided for supporting the container bodies as they are propelled therealong in longitudinally spaced end-to-end relationship and the workpieces are subjected to a plural liquid treatment by the impingement of high pressure liquid streams against the inner and outer surfaces thereof.
Following the treatment of the container bodies, or between successive treating stations, the containers are transferred by various conveying systems of which a fluid conveying system to which the present invention is applicable is particularly effective in that the container body is supported on a cushion of air, minimizing friction during transport, while also enabling a setting or drying of the coated surfaces to an extent that the container bodies can be handled without a marring or damage to the coatings thereon.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a fluid bearing conveyor system for articles such as container bodies or the like, which is commercially adaptable to transport systems between high-speed fabricating or treating stations, which in accordance with one of its embodiments, provides for a heating of the article during its conveyance so as to effect a drying thereof or a curing or setting of coatings on the article during the course of its conveyance, and which in another embodiment thereof provides for a modular construction consisting of a series of assemblable sections, providing for increased versatility in adapting the fluid conveying system to different operating situations.